Teenage alcoholism and its causes. The article will provide ways to get rid of the voiced ailment that can interfere with the child's self-realization in the future. Teenage alcoholism is a situation that can be called the scourge of our time. Even with the impossibility of purchasing alcoholic beverages in supermarkets for persons under 18 years old, some young craftsmen manage to get what they want with the help of strangers. Parents in many cases are too late in identifying signs of alcohol addiction in their children, so you should understand the problem in detail.
Causes of adolescent alcoholism
If you need urgent intervention in your child's life, you should understand the origins of his addiction. Alcoholism in adolescents usually begins to develop on the following prerequisites for the formation of a sounded pathology:
- Hereditary predisposition … This aspect has rather serious consequences for the fragile body of a child who suffers in the future through no fault of his own. Statistics show that in families of hereditary alcoholics, almost 70% of their offspring follow in the footsteps of their parents. Nobody in this case claims that the voiced fact is an axiom. However, the likelihood of teenage alcoholism increases three to four times when we compare a child from a dysfunctional family and the offspring of non-drinking parents.
- Traumatic brain injury … This pathology can have the most unpredictable consequences. As a result of such life's troubles, children develop an excessive attraction to strong drinks. The center of their brain activity can be so damaged that even an experienced narcologist will not be able to relieve his young patient from alcohol addiction in a short time.
- Psychopathy … All children belong to a certain type of character and the accompanying model of behavior. If a teenager belongs to the epileptoid type, then in most cases he begins to learn alcohol solely for the purpose of disconnecting from life's problems. The schizoid type in children implies a slightly different motivation for actions regarding the use of strong drinks. In this case, we are talking about the desire to get rid of any internal contradictions and simplify communication with peers.
- Raising the status in the team … Children's organization in a school does not always imply the cohesion and unity of all its members. In some cases, the so-called herd instinct is simply triggered, which is extremely difficult for a teenager to resist. Most children are simply afraid to become the victim of bullying by their peers, who turn out to be more liberated than they are.
- Imposed stereotypes … Modern cinema does not always offer adolescents a model of behavior that is worthy of them in society as an example. Films in which supposedly cool young people drink beer are no longer a rarity. Advertising is replete with offers to purchase an intoxicated drink as an additional pleasure in life, without explaining all the perniciousness of such a bad habit for a child.
- Distorted parenting system … When a teenager systematically sees his parents drunk in front of him, there is no guarantee that he will not follow their example. In families of drunkards, control over the offspring is reduced to a minimum, so the children are left to themselves and can do stupid things. Experts say that alcoholism in adolescence occurs exactly where the fish rots from the head.
- Protest against adult diktat … Some parents begin to over-control their children, causing them to respond with aggression by such actions. It is not forbidden to look after your child, but tyranny is unacceptable in any family. This age in children is distinguished by rebelliousness, so you should not add fuel to the fire in the form of unnecessary moralizing. A teenager can start drinking in spite of adults, because his psyche has not yet fully formed and is subject to someone else's negative influence.
- Elementary promiscuity … The so-called golden youth, trying to prove something to each other, often go beyond the reasonable and permitted. The children of wealthy parents are often held hostage when, instead of controlling their behavior, they receive bonuses in the form of generous monetary funding.
- Curiosity … A teenager is just beginning to learn about this world, so he learns through trial and error. Taking intoxicating drinks for some children seems like an adult act, which is definitely not true. However, they want to taste the forbidden fruit, which then leads to disastrous consequences.
Important! A child of this age category needs additional care from the parents. It is always necessary to clearly know where and with whom the beloved child spends his free time, so that it does not bring such an unpleasant surprise as drunkenness in the future.
Stages of alcohol dependence in adolescents
As in adults, a child has three stages in the formation of a voiced problem, which looks like this:
- Addictive … This phase of interest in intoxicating drinks usually lasts for six months. This period is quite enough for the teenager to catch all the "delights" of being high. A similar process can begin with any alcoholic beverage. Some people frivolously assume that beer is not a perceived threat to the child's body. However, practice shows that this foamy liquid has the property of getting used to it for a fairly short period of time.
- Dose escalation … The sounded phase usually lasts throughout the year, when a teenager, instead of one bottle of the same low-alcohol drink, sees several containers that are desirable for consumption. At this stage, the risk of delinquency on the part of the child increases, because an increase in the dose of alcohol requires rather serious financial costs.
- Addiction … In this case, you should not just wag your finger at the parents of such unfortunate children, but give them a thorough reprimand. At this stage in the development of alcoholism, a child already experiences all the delights of an abstinence syndrome (withdrawal symptoms), which should not be felt by him on the threshold of cognition of the world around him.
Read about the stages of development of drunken alcoholism in adults.
The main symptoms of alcoholism in adolescents
A child who can no longer do without the use of alcoholic beverages usually looks like this:
- The smell of alcohol and fumes … One of the first signs when parents and teachers should definitely sound the alarm is the voiced factor. A child cannot smell like anything like that, because this is contrary to all moral norms. A huge connivance on the part of adults is the permission to drink a glass of champagne or wine for their children during a banquet. In the future, they will want to repeat the experience, which cannot be called positive.
- Excessive aggressiveness … In very rare cases, a teenager in a state of alcoholic intoxication will remain a peaceful person. The child's body reacts quite harshly to an excess of ethanol in it, so children, even after a bottle of beer, can become simply uncontrollable bully.
- Stealing from parents … In order to purchase a container with a strong drink, the child needs to get funds to fulfill his desires. A teenager in isolated cases can earn his own living, which is rather an exception to the rule. Therefore, he can take the path of least resistance in the form of theft from relatives.
- Illegal acts … Alcoholic teenagers will not disdain anything if they want to drink an extra bottle of the same beer to which they are already accustomed. They may start scamming weaker children at school or raiding to empty the pockets of drunken adults.
Read about the reasons for the development of female alcoholism.
The consequences of adolescent alcoholism
This disease is a rather serious problem for both the child and his parents. The voiced problem is dangerous in that it can end in the future as follows:
- Impossibility to assimilate information … Ethanol is usually quite detrimental to a child's intelligence. At the same time, it destroys neural connections, without which healthy thinking cannot be expected in a teenager. Even with promising inclinations, the young alcoholic will not have a single chance to obtain the information he needs.
- Low learning ability … If a child during this period of his development has learned all the "delights" of drinking alcohol, then one should not be surprised later at his poor performance in an educational institution. The same hangover will prevent him from assimilating the material offered by the teacher, because the teenager will dream of another bottle of beer or low-alcohol poison.
- Asocial behavior … If a child has an increased desire to drink alcohol, then this factor has rather serious consequences. Under intoxicated fumes, adolescents often perform actions that directly contradict generally accepted norms. Often, such hooliganism ends in a colony, after which it will be difficult for a still unformed personality to adapt in society in the future.
- Stunted growth … For the full functioning of the adolescent's body, timely intake of all the necessary vitamins and minerals is required. Even at the initial stage of childhood alcoholism, the child's appetite disappears, which further leads to exhaustion and growth retardation.
- General deterioration in health … With alcoholism at such a young age, almost all systems and organs of a teenager are affected. In this case, there is a malfunction of the gastrointestinal tract (pancreatitis or gastritis), the cardiovascular system (tachycardia, high blood pressure, arrhythmia). In this case, the urinary function of the child may also suffer in the form of cystitis or urethritis formed.
- Infectious diseases … In the "fly" state, a teenager is often exposed to hypothermia in the cold season. As a result, the child's immunity decreases, which further leads to diseases of the upper respiratory tract and lungs.
- Unplanned pregnancy … Children who have begun to abuse alcoholic beverages may sexually mature earlier than their well-to-do peers. All this threatens the beginning of a promiscuous sexual life, which is fraught, in most cases, with conception in a drunken state.
- Sexual infections … This problem is directly related to the previously announced fact. In addition to an unplanned pregnancy, adolescents who prefer alcohol to a healthy way of life can develop quite serious illnesses in the form of syphilis and gonorrhea.
None of the listed consequences of adolescent alcoholism can be considered an insignificant fact that will be regulated by itself. If in a dysfunctional family there is a disregard or outright suppression of an already existing problem, then the close circle should seek help from the juvenile affairs inspectorate and a narcologist.
Read how to use dung mushroom for alcoholism
Features of the fight against alcoholism in adolescents
Every teenager has the right to a fulfilling life and perspectives in terms of further development. The reasons for adolescent alcoholism have a very detrimental effect on the child's desire to get out of the vicious circle. In this immature personality can be helped not only by wise adults, but also by narcologists, if you ask for their help in time.
